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Accountable Care Organizations and Family Medicine
The concept of an Accountable Care Organization (ACO) is simple– a group of providers takes on the collective responsibility of delivering health care for a defined population of patients while managing both the quality and the cost of that care.
At the heart of the ACO model is a core of empowered primary care physicians equipped with the resources, data and leadership to coordinate and manage care for patients across the entire community. Family physicians, and other primary care providers, are indisputably the most important element in any ACO development.
The growth of ACOs in both the private and public sectors is one of the leading signals that the American health care system is moving away from the current fee-for-service model of payment. Health care purchasers and consumers are beginning to support primary care physicians in calling for a more equitable system of payments which encourages high value health care, instead of high volume health care.
Want to learn more about ACOs? Start with our Frequently Asked Questions about ACOs.
Read the perspective of a physician leader on The Role of Independent Physicians in Accountable Care Organizations on the TransforMED site.
Read the perspective of a physician leader on The Role of Independent Physicians in Accountable Care Organizations on the TransforMED site.
Specific Questions?
Contact AAFP staff at: aco@aafp.org or (800) 274-2237.
Accountable Care Organizations and Family Medicine
More Information on ACOs
State Restrictions on Owning a Practice (Members Only)
